Posted on 02/26/2009 8:20:22 PM PST by nickcarraway
It's been 13 years since a Santa Clara County jury sentenced Richard Allen Davis to death for kidnapping and killing Polly Klaas, but believe it or not his appeal process has move not one step closer to San Quentin's death chamber in all those years.
That first and guaranteed step will happen in San Francisco next Tuesday. That's when the California Supreme Court will hear what is sure to be the first of many appeals.
When the wire crossed in the newsroom, long timers were livid. How could it be that one of the most notorious killers of one of the most beloved children in Bay Area history is no closer to the the jury's chosen justice as the day he was sentenced? The wire had to be incorrect. Sadly, it was not.
Polly would be 28 years old if it were not for one Richard Allen Davis.
Even though most Californians are aware the appeals process moves at a snails pace, the fact that it took 13 years for the first and automatic first step comes as a shock to many.
Davis, 54, a former sheet metal worker with a long criminal record, was convicted in Santa Clara County Superior Court in 1996 of kidnapping the girl from a slumber party at her mother's home in Petaluma on Oct. 1, 1993, and murdering her by strangling her.
Her body was found near U.S. Highway 101 in the Cloverdale area two months later after Davis, who had been arrested for a parole violation, gave investigators information about the location.
The trial was moved from Sonoma County to Santa Clara County because of extensive publicity about the case.
When he was convicted, Davis turned to the camera in the courtroom and put up his middle finger.
During his sentencing he read a statement that ended with a claim that infuriated Polly's father Mark Klaas so much he had to be restrained from lunging at his daughter's killer.
If the state high court upholds his conviction, Davis can continue appeals through habeas corpus petitions in the state and federal court systems.
The court's seven justices will spend an hour hearing arguments on the appeal and then will have three months to issue a written ruling.
All death penalty cases in California are automatically appealed directly to the state Supreme Court.
The direct appeal is the first step in a lengthy appeal process. If the state high court upholds his conviction, Davis can continue appeals through habeas corpus petitions in the state and federal court systems.
Davis' case led to California's voter-approved "three strikes" law, which provides lengthy sentences for repeat offenders.
That’s a crime that he is still breathing air.
I remember this case well. The guy is a complete lowlife. Should have been fried years ago.
The fact that it takes this long to move forward really makes we wonder if the only justice in this life would be from the hands of the general population (which would only happen if he’s not on death row).
Davis is more likely to die of natural causes than of being executed.
There is essentially no death penalty in California. The courts itentionally delay the process until the clock expires.
Just like everything else in California, childish liberalism runs roughshod over the public will and the good people just sit there and take it.
I don't feel anything but pity for the family. As far as Cali.... who gives a rat's a$$ about that state. The people take it, just like the idiots in Massachusetts and won't do anything about it.
I moved from Florida 4 years ago and I'm glad to be back home. The market peaked for water front property but I could see the insurance rates going up for me and for my property. It was only a matter of time for the whole ponzi scheme to fall down. Especially the "luxury condo" market on the coasts.
Unless the people of Cali get sick and tired of the murders, theft, corruption and general bullsh#t... it will continue. I see California becoming a Detroit with nice weather. A couple of nice enclaves, gated with private security. Police trying to contain the real owners of the streets, the gangs and a bunch of service industries like Health and Hospitality/Tourist workers.
All the manufacturers will eventually leave with the environmental laws, lack of stable workforce, high workers compensation/insurance costs, fees and taxes with relief right across the border to Utah or Az.
My guess, is that it is the scums of the bar associations who have hijacked our courts in this country.
I see the whole country moving further in that direction every day with the filth we have in the Congress and White House...
Why doesn’t an unborn baby have the same rights before getting a death sentence?
There is a shortage of lawyers willing to take on post-conviction capital appeals in California, so the system grinds along very, very slowly.
There is actually an entire division of the public defender’s office devoted to death penalty appeals (A law school classmate used to work there). The only shortage is self-imposed - they work very slowly and nobody imposes a fast hard deadline. There are also numerous outside law firms and public interest groups that provide counsel, but again they have no need to rush either.
This is not a case where there is any doubt as to guilt. This guy should have been executed 2 years MAX. after the trial - just as we used to do in the 30s (see e.g. Changeling, based on true events in Los Angeles).
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